Months of threats, wrangling and hearings over whether it's wrong to shoot a bear out of a tree probably will come to an end this week with a decision in Sacramento.

The Senate is likely to vote on the final version of SB 1221, which proposes to ban the use of dogs when hunting bears or bobcats. If approved, the proposed law would go to the governor.

Amid the debates over SB 1221 this summer, I've counted 17 arguments for why the bill should be rejected, and 14 favoring its approval. On both sides, most engage a logic that is best described as "correct by assertion."

On the surface, the bill would seem to affect few people. In a state of 38 million, fewer than 10,000 hunters - or less than .03 percent of the population - use dogs to track bears, even as a hobby. In addition, most bear hunters do not use dogs. According to the Department of Fish and Game, 55 percent of the bears (and 89 percent of bobcats), taken under a strict quota system, are taken without dogs. Plus, only about 20 percent of Californians live in rural areas and far fewer live in bear country.

But SB 1221 has hit close to the heart of many, regardless of outdoor orientation. In the past month, SB 1221 has become a national symbol in a fight between two of the most passionate groups out there, hunters and antihunters.

Many hunters, including some who would not shoot a bear, believe that Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States, the man behind the bill, is going to pick off California hunters one at a time and that he has started with the easiest target. So, hunters have joined forces to try to stop him now.

I called Pacelle and asked him about that premise. He told me that if SB 1221 fails, he will launch an initiative for the 2014 ballot in California to ban all hunting for bears and bobcats. Pacelle said all he would have to do is run a TV commercial that shows a video of a hunter shooting a bear out of a tree and he would have all the votes he needed.

When it's all said and done, and SB 1221 comes to a vote, that vision will trigger many legislators to push the green "aye" button.